Natural burials could one day become Dunedin's only method of
interment, and the rules for the city's cemeteries are to be
rewritten to allow them, a Dunedin City Council staff member
says.
And, in the meantime, the council could even look to
accommodate those wanting to opt for a natural burial over
more traditional methods, council community and recreation
services manager Mick Reece has confirmed.
Mr Reece was speaking at this week's meeting of the community
development committee, as councillors considered a staff
report recommending the development of a new draft policy for
natural burials.
The policy would be incorporated into a review of the
council's manual for cemetery operations, beginning next
month, and results would be presented to the committee for
further approval.
Mr Reece told the meeting that interest in natural burials
appeared to be growing.
The council received 20 submissions during last year's
consultation on the 2010-11 annual plan, from people -
including members of the Advocates for Natural Burials
Dunedin group - calling for space to be provided for natural
burials in the city.
Mr Reece told councillors there was already a "plethora" of
options available across the city's cemeteries, but natural
burials could one day prove the most popular.
"There's no doubt in future this may be the only way of
burial," he said.
Natural burials saw bodies placed into shallow graves -
usually in a casket made of untreated soft wood - with plots
filled with nutrient-rich soil, trees and other plantings, to
encourage natural decomposition.
The practice appealed to people who wanted to be "returned to
the earth", provided a simple and environmentally-friendly
form of burial and left behind burial grounds "of beauty and
growth", Advocates group member Maureen Howard told last
year's annual plan hearing.
A report by council community and recreation policy team
leader Lisa Wheeler to this week's meeting, outlined details
of the cemetery manual's review: A sloping section of
Dunedin's Green Park cemetery had been identified as suitable
for natural burials, the practice had the support of the
Funeral Directors Association of New Zealand, and other
councils already had policies to accommodate the practice.
Submitters to last year's annual plan had urged the council
to follow in the footsteps of other centres, including
Wellington, which allowed natural burials in one of its
cemeteries.
Mr Reece suggested it might be possible to accommodate anyone
wanting a natural burial in the meantime.
Burials had to comply with council's existing cemeteries
manual, but provided a natural burial did so staff would
"negotiate a solution".
chris.morris@odt.co.nz
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